Halloween Horror
by AnomalyDetected
Summary: Halloween was one of Connor's favorite holidays, if only because he always needed a reason to marathon his favorite horror films. Abby, not one to admit it, hated Halloween because she hated scary movies. This year, though, she wanted to prove to herself that she could watch one.


Connor loved horror movies. It was a basic fact about him. Right next to his massive sci-fi collection, there sat a horror/gore movie section. He had all the big names from Freddie Krueger, to Friday The 13th, to Psycho, if it was popular, he likely owned it. He watched them from time to time, whenever he wanted a good scare or a thrill…and he had a whole horror marathon on Halloween.

Abby _hated_ Halloween just because of that tradition. She didn't particularly understand why people wanted to get scared, why people sought out horror films and liked to see gore. It was all sort of sick to her and though she never wanted to admit it; she was a bit unsettled and scared by the movies.

Connor never forced her to watch them and if asked, even kept the volume low so she didn't have to hear it, he just wished sometimes that she'd cuddle with him throughout them and realize that maybe they weren't as scary as they seemed to be. He wanted to be the one who pointed out facts, like the blood they used was cool-aid or that a 'dead' body was moving or that they used the Wilhelm Scream 50 times and the face of the actor didn't quite match up. But no, he promised to never, ever force her after one bad experience with _Arachnophobia_…he would swear up and down that he didn't know she suffered from it.

"Abs, I'm going to be havin' the marathon," He said the night before Halloween.  
"_Why_?" She groaned. "We could be watchin' less scary movies, like…The Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus or The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! I can watch those ones!"  
"They're on the list, I just like watching those ones after all the really scary ones! I'm watching Poltergeist, Children Of The Corn, and Jeepers Creepers this year, it's been awhile. I mean, there'll obviously be more, but those are the ones set in stone."  
"What? No Freddy Krueger and Chuckie this year?"  
"_Maybe_. But those ones are so overdone that they're not scary, they're just funny. Can't lie and say Freddy's sarcasm isn't hilarious,"  
"No, I can't lie. But I can truthfully say it isn't hilarious and instead rather terrifying and sick."  
"Sorry, love. I'll keep it low for you?"  
"Sure, sure…and you better pause it if I need something from you, got it?"  
"Of course." He nodded obediently.

—-

Abby _hated_ being afraid. She wasn't even sure why she afraid. She dealt with raging dinosaurs on a daily basis, lived in the past for a year, dealt with a horrible childhood, and had seen people killed right in front of her. All of that was far worse than a fictional horror film where the screams were fake and the blood was slathered on by crew workers. It was ridiculous.

It was the evening of Halloween and she was holed up in her room, trying to read a book, though not really focusing on any of the words. She just knew that the main character had just gotten kissed and was acting as if it was some big accomplishment. She hadn't really cared for the book, hadn't even picked it out, Jess had just loaned it to her and squealed that she'd love it and that it was a must read.

She finally threw it down on the bedside table, sighed, and stood up, pausing a moment to stretch and reavulate her decision. Should she really go out there? Really watch a dumb movie with Connor? Once she started watching, she wasn't going to walk out…she wanted to prove to herself that she could handle something so fake, so it had to be thought out carefully…

—-

Connor was in the process of switching movies, trying to decide between Saw, Final Destination, and The Woman In Black. Most of the worst had already been watched and as the night went on, the lighter the movies became before he ended with the childish ones. He wasn't stupid enough to watch the terrifying ones the night of Halloween, he hadn't done that since he was a teenager.

He heard the bedroom door open and looked up. "Lucky you, I'm just trying to choose between movies now. Need anything?"  
"I want to watch one," She answered with a voice that didn't waver, but her face screamed that she was unsure of this.  
"Yeah?" He raised his eyebrows. "What brought that on? You hate these kinds of movies…and I don't blame you, you don't have to prove to me that you can. I understand, Abby, I don't watch zombie flicks 'cause they give me nightmares."  
"I don't want to prove to _you_ that I can watch them, I want to prove to _myself_ that I can,"  
"Abs, you sure?" Now he knew he had to choose the easiest of the ones to get through. Probably Final Destination.  
She only nodded. She just wanted to get it over with.  
"Okay, but I will hold you during it, pause it anytime you want it to be paused, and you're allowed to stop the movie too, yeah?"  
"Connor, I'm not a baby, I can handle this."

He slides the movie into the DVD player and moves over onto the couch, gesturing for her to join him. She was jumpy in the beginning, even when the music got a bit too tense she got chills. He tried to help by rubbing her shoulders or giving her pecks on the cheek, anything to reassure her that she wasn't there.

When the first death happened, he thought she was going to quit. He admitted, it wasn't a very pleasant scene, none of the deaths were exactly a walk in the park, but figured that for her; Saw with it's psychological torture would set her on the edge…now thinking about it though, he should've chosen The Woman In Black. That was extremely tolerable and maybe she'd find some comfort in Daniel Radcliffe or something.

"Hey, it's okay. It's nearly impossible to die like that anyways, nothing could strangle you like that on it's own. It's all fake, remember? Nothing about this is real,"

When the second death happened, her head was in his shoulder. "I like The Nightmare Before Christmas much, much better." She mumbled.  
"I know…it's a much nicer film, innit? Just know that's not real blood, probably made out of chocolate sauce. Bet the cast had a ball eatin' that stuff." He chuckled, not minding at all as she squeezed his hand a bit tighter and closed her eyes.

During the third death, she was half-way laughing, but Connor recognized it as nervous laughter from fear. Though, throughout this whole movie, he had deemed this death the most unlikely and stupidest.

"Abs, you have to think about it this way, I swear…Death is a very desperate man, isn't he? I mean, if he's willing to explode her computer so shards fly to her neck, have a knife fall onto her chest and have it driven in with a chair, and then explode her house…he's got to be desperate. I mean, all because these people were supposed to die but didn't! Kind of like a whiny ten year old who doesn't get his way, yeah? Just couldn't let them get away with it!"

That got a real, small smile onto her face. He kissed her head. "You've gotten through more than half of the movie, love, there's only two deaths left and one isn't even really seen."

—-

As the credits rolled, Abby looked up at Connor, as if asking if she really survived a horror film. "You did well, much better than you did with Arachnophobia,"  
"Yeah, well, you only chose one of my worst fears besides drowning,"  
"Sorry. A few years ago, I didn't know…now I know better. This movie—-wasn't that bad, was it?"  
"Absolutely dreadful. Will likely not watch ever again, but…I survived it and that's the point."  
"Of course," Connor smiled and kissed her on her lips. "Now…shall we watch The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or The Nightmare Before Christmas now?"  
"Nightmare Before Christmas, of course! Maybe late at night, we could even watch Beauty and The Beast."  
"Tomorrow, we can…but Halloween Night is reserved for Halloween movies only!"  
"_Fine_. At least we're finally getting to the good ones,"  
"I dunno, Children Of The Corn was pretty great."  
"_No_."  
"I'm just kidding," He rolled his eyes, getting up to switch the movie. "but if you ever did want to watch another horror movie, I'm open for cuddling and Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Abby shook her head, though she wasn't sure it was a definite answer. Just knew that she didn't even want to think of watching another horror film at the moment. She just wanted to focus on anything but.

She definitely still didn't understand the appeal…but at least with Connor, it wasn't as bad as being alone.


End file.
